Community News Brief:

Santa Monica Resident Could Be Serial KillerAn air conditioner repairman out of Santa Monica could be responsible for the murder of almost a dozen women. Los Angeles County homicide detectives say Michael T. Gargiulo, 32, is being charged with attempted murder and two counts of murder.Gargiulo is the prime suspect, according to homicide detective Mark Lillienfeld. There were 10 pictures of women that were taken from Gargiulo’s home computer, including Ashley Ellerin, a former fashion student and old girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher. All the victims resembled each other, and each woman was killed with a knife, Lillienfeld stated. Gargiulo would break into these women’s homes late at night and stab them repeatedly. Last June, Gargiulo was arrested when he attempted this same act on another Santa Monica woman, but she was able to break free.Homicide detectives are currently using evidence from an Illinois case connected with Gargiulo to connect other murders in the Santa Monica area to him.Santa Monica Man Charged with MurderA Santa Monica man was charged with murder of a women whose body was found in the trunk of her car last Saturday.Adel Chapel, 24, is the prime suspect in the murder of Denise Figueroa, 22, after she was reported missing late last month. Chapel and Figueroa had once been in a relationship, said police.An anonymous letter sent to KTLA-TV suggested to authorities where they could find Figueroa’s body. The letter stated a murder had been committed on February 28, and was signed with “someone trying to help.”Taxi Cabs in Santa MonicaCity Council has directed staff to devise a new plan that would permanently limit the number of cabs around Santa Monica.A cab moratorium that was proposed would have 50 new cabs coming into the city, making the total number of cabs exceed 400, more than anywhere in L.A. per capita. Cab drivers and owners showed up at the meeting to fight for their future existence in the city. Many drivers testified that creating this limit of cabs in the city would make business extremely hard, and eventually put them out of business for them.Many residents and a few councilmembers thought there were too many cabs already in the town.